and to a less extent the Mahommedans, they quickly made themselves a force in the community. That position has been consolidated and extended, until to-day they are the backbone of Bombay's commercial and professional life, and a factor in the larger field of Indian political and economic development.
As an idle speculation we may wonder what the excellent Gerald Aungier would think if he were permitted to revisit the earth and see what kind of city has developed out of the modest town of 50,000 inhabitants of which he was so justly proud. Nowhere in the East, perhaps, are the marks of British genius more vividly impressed than upon that wonderful port at which the stranger from the West usually gets his first glimpse of India.
Thy towers, Bombay, gleam bright they say
Across the dark blue sea,
sang the saintly Heber in anticipation of a meeting with his wife in the city. But even in his time Bombay, though a picturesque spot, was a sleepy and insignificant place, vastly different to the city of to-day. A population of over a million drawn from the four quarters of Asia and from most of the countries of Europe is now crowded upon the island. Its streets palpitate with a life more picturesque and varied than that of any populous centre under the sun. In and out of its docks passes annually a volume of shipping which places Bombay amongst the largest ports of the world. Public buildings, vast in size and of imposing architectural features, crowd the European quarter,and from its central railway station—the most magnificent structure of its kind in the East—are daily dispatched trains which cover the journey across the continent in fewer days than it took Heber months to traverse the distance.
